TEE STORY OF ORESTES. 137

ie favourite of Artemis. And Calclias, the seer, read
ae omen thus : " Troy will fall bdore_jhe. gonsjoj.
.treus, but a shade hangs oveFTEelr proud array, for
jrtejnj^^sj^ ;" and though the

rophet prayed that the omen might be averted, yet
ie gloomy burden peals out startlingly:—

Ring out the dolorous hymn, yet triumph still the good!"

alchas prayed that the injured goddess might not in
iger delay the fleet, and force upon the chiefs

" That other sacrifice—
That darker sacrifice, unblest
By music or by jocund feast:

Whence sad domestic strife shall rise,
And, dreadless of her lord, fierce woman's hate ;
Whose child-avenging wrath in sullen state
Broods, wily housewife, in her chamber's gloom,
Over that unforgotten doom.

Such were the words that Calclias clanged abroad,
When crossed those ominous birds the onward road
Of that twice royal brotherhood:
A mingled doom
Of glory and of gloom.
Ring out the dolorous hymn, yet triumph still the good!"

Ominous, indeed, is the starting; and the mind,
pressed with apprehension, turns to think of the
ly powers that govern all these things. Zeus_jt is
10 rules unrivalled. Two dynasties of gods have
Ignjbefore him; and still his lesson to jmortals is,
^earning through. Sorrow." DaitlSZlaTirairseSms